Hot Fuzz

Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg have built their 2007 buddy-cop homage-parody on everything from The Wicker Man to Point Break. Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, the best cop on the London police force banished to the idyllic setting of Sandford. Things, of course, arent what they seem, and the movie crawls toward a combustible finale that references damned near every cop movie Wrights ever seen. Point Break is a particular favorite of Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), the town drunk and police office with whom Nicholas is partnered. Ultimately, Hot Fuzz is a kind of a love story between these two guysappropriate, as the film is obviously inspired by Lethal Weapon. But Hot Fuzz transcends its influences. It thrives as its own entity, a British variation on Hollywood nonsense. (R) ROBERT WILONSKY